Ontario universities struggle with revenue losses amid international student cap

A person walks on the University of Toronto campus in Toronto, on Sept. 8, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

Ontario universities are expecting to face revenue losses of more than $2.1 billion amid federal cuts to the number of international students in the province, the Council of Ontario Universities warns.

The council provided CTV News Toronto with figures stating that the cuts led to an estimated $300 million revenue loss last year, a $700 million revenue loss this year and a projected revenue loss of $1.1 billion next year.

“As a result of the broad-brush cuts to international students, university enrollment of international students has declined and based on enrollment numbers, we have solid evidence that we lost 300 million in revenue last year,” said Steve Orsini, president and CEO of the Council of Ontario Universities.

“Over the last few years, universities have cut over half a billion in programs and services, and we expect, as our revenues continue to decline, we’re going to see more further cuts to programs and services.”

The federal government reduced and capped the number of international students in January 2024, leaving several of the province’s universities and colleges struggling with enrollment and revenue loss.

The sector is bracing for an even greater hit as Ottawa announced even fewer foreign students for 2026 this past week.

On Tuesday, the federal government released its provincial allocations for international students, with Ontario receiving 104,780 applications with a target of 70,074 actual study permits issued.

Ontario will also receive a share of the 49,000 master’s and PhD student spots. In 2025, Ontario was overall allocated 149,011 study permit applications, with an additional 32,579 for graduate students.

“Introduced in 2024, (the international student cap limits) has been an effective tool in slowing the growth of Canada’s temporary population, with the number of study permit holders dropping from over 1 million in January 2024 to about 725,000 by September 2025,” the federal government wrote in its notice.

The council says universities cannot continue to cut programs and services to deal with the revenue losses. Universities have already implemented nearly $550 million in cuts over the last few years by reducing programs, services and staffing, Orsini said.

“Since over the last five years, we’ve had a 17 per cent increase in the number of Ontario high school students applying to Ontario universities and we expect,” Orsini said. “While our revenues are going down for international students, the demand for domestic students is going up, and so it’s creating significant financial pressures on universities.”

He added that universities are unable to “fulfill their mission” due to worsening financial challenges that are being created by the declining student funding, a 10 per cent tuition cut and freeze since 2019, and the significant cuts to international student visas.

“It’s an investment, not a cost. It’s an investment in our kid’s future. It’s an investment in our economy’s future, and as revenues continue to decline, our ability to train our future workforce, our ability to innovate will be constrained, and that will be a lost opportunity for our future, the future of our students and the future of our economy,” he said.

Bianca Giacoboni, press secretary to Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn, told CTV News Toronto in a statement on Thursday that the federal government’s cuts are “destabilizing.”

“The federal government’s repeated changes to the international student permit system continue to destabilize Canada’s postsecondary system. Ontario has received our significantly reduced allocation for 2026, and we are working through our allocation approach,” Giacoboni said.

“As we have been from the beginning, we are focused on attracting the best and brightest students to industries that address our province’s labour market needs.”

Orsini said the council is working with the province and the federal government to ensure universities attract talent, adding that the federal budget did include $1.7 billion to help bring in talented researchers nationwide.

“We’ve always said, if you’re reducing the quality of the quantity of international students, focus on the quality,” he said. “It will complement the talent we have in Canada, but we need more advanced degrees and more top talent to compete in today’s very competitive global economy.”